Kincaid's Secret
by J. Watson
Summary: Thanks, DarknessTakesOver. I accidentally published an older draft of the story. Kincaid has a secret he has carried after his time at Westin Hills.


_You got a lot of nerve to be standing in this graveyard_, thought Roland Kincaid, _especially in front of her tombstone_.

He didn't really blame Joey and Kristen for selling Nancy out. They grew up around the picket fences. Kincaid knew better. When people think of Elm Street, they envision the beautiful suburban homes and fresh-cut lawns. But if they continued along the stretch that goes past Spruce Avenue, Kincaid's neighborhood would be at the tail end of Elm Street. It was an unspoken rule. Springwood's African-American and Irish population was mostly concentrated in the Steels—a nickname given on account of its industrialized plants. It was a neighborhood filled with housing projects, rundown duplexes, and its fair share of racial tension.

Kincaid might not have had it as hard as the others in the Steels. He had moved back to Springwood to live with his uncle, Allen Levine, a police officer for the Springwood Police Department. He lived on the crossing of Spruce Avenue and Elm Street, the nicer section of Steels. Before that, Kincaid had lived a nomadic life with his mother, Evelyn, until she died of throat cancer. _She just couldn't live without her Marlboros._ In Springwood, Kincaid now lived in a strict household that was tempered by his uncle's iron fist. It was a place filled with boundaries—something that Kincaid was not used to. Yet it didn't take long for Kincaid's welcome to wear thin. Allen would openly berate Kincaid's father, Ross, at the dinner table. The man was a stranger to Kincaid, as he had abandoned Kincaid during his toddler years. From what Kincaid gathered, Allen and Ross had served together as police officers, and were the best of friends. They were a big happy family when Ross and Evelyn got married. But everything went tumbling down for reasons unknown to family members. He never knew his father, and didn't care to if his uncle was speaking the truth.

No sooner had Kincaid relocated to Springwood that the nightmares began. He would find himself in one of the closed down power plants. In the shadows, a hideous looking man lurked. At first, Kincaid would wake up while the man was still twenty feet away from him. Then, as the nightmares became recurring, the man would get closer and closer until Kincaid could smell his rotten breath. In one dream, the man cut Kincaid with a glove made of knives. He woke up to find a small incision on his thumb. But Kincaid shook it off and attributed the wound to hitting the wall while asleep. After more nightmares, Kincaid stopped making excuses. In another dream, the man strapped Kincaid to a steel table, and proceeded to make small cuts all over Kincaid's body. When Kincaid awoke, he found cuts in the same exact places. If Kincaid stayed up all night, he was unharmed. But every time he fell asleep, and the man cut him, Kincaid would have a wound in the same spot. Kincaid began wondering if he was going insane. He knew that nobody else in the household would be hurting him. Kincaid could not have made those cuts himself by bumping into the wall while asleep. So what was happening? Staying awake seemed to be the best method to Kincaid.

Due to the sleep deprivation, Kincaid grew angry and restless. He would get in fights at school. Once, when he was serving detention, Kincaid fell asleep and saw the man again…but this time in the sunlight. Kincaid vomited when he saw the man's face—a tangled mass of burned flesh with cold-blooded eyes. He could make out the tattered sweater, dusty fedora, and of course the bladed glove. Kincaid tried to escape, but the burned man picked him up with one hand and started tossing him around the room. Kincaid was yelling at the top of his lungs as he collided with the desks, trying to swing his fists at the burned man. The man just laughed at Kincaid's futile efforts. When Kincaid opened his eyes, he was being restrained by teachers. But by that time, Kincaid was in fight or flight mode. He was pounding everybody in sight, yelling and stumbling around. The cops were called. Officer Levine was first to the scene, but couldn't subdue his nephew. By the time reinforcements arrived, Kincaid was going into convulsions. Instead of being carted to jail, he was sent to Westin Hills. Kincaid's behavior was attributed to a nervous breakdown—supposedly triggered by his mother's recent death.

At first, Kincaid hated everybody in the ward. Dr. Simms reminded Kincaid of the doctors that treated his mother—strutting around in their lab coats, but knowing shit. Max walked around all the time like he was hard. The patients were just as bad. Jennifer was definitely from the Steels, and had grandiose dreams of becoming a movie star. Kincaid wondered if Jennifer's cigarettes were hallucinogenic. Why else would a girl so ugly think she was going to hit it big like Marilyn Monroe? He disliked his roommate Phillip, and his damn puppets. Kincaid was only paired up with him because the last guy cut his eyelids off. He would catch Phillip checking out Joey, the mute that was in a room down the hall. At first, Kincaid thought he would have to sleep with one hand over his ass. But Phillip never made any moves on him, so the living arrangement was cool.

The only person that Kincaid took to was Taryn. Sure, Taryn came from the good side of Springwood. But she had run off a year back with some guy to New York City, and got into prostitution and drugs. She was messed up all right, and didn't care what other people thought of her. But underneath the hard exterior was someone with a genuine heart. It was Taryn that would always call Kincaid on his shit, and told him to lay off the rest of the ward patients. She emphasized that they were all just trying to make it. Plus, it didn't hurt that Taryn was gorgeous too—despite having those dark bags underneath her eyes.

And then Nancy Thompson arrived, and the war began. To the hospital staff, Kincaid and the others were messed up kids with behavioral problems. Little did the doctors and nurses know that the teenagers all had a common enemy…Freddy Krueger. As explained by Nancy, he was a child killer that found his way into their dreams. _It sure sounded like craziness, but not when the other teenagers started dropping like flies. _First Phillip…then Jennifer…until it finally became apparent that the remaining survivors had to bind together. While in the dream world, each of them had a unique ability. For Kincaid, it was super strength. It was appropriate, given that he felt so powerless during other times in his life. As a team, Nancy, Kincaid, Kristen, Taryn and Will went into the dream world to save Joey and confront Freddy.

They fought hard, but not everybody survived. When they were discovered by Max and the hospital staff, Kristen had awakened before Kincaid. He opened his eyes, and could see a hysterical Kristen being escorted out by two orderlies. Dr. Simms was standing above Nancy's lifeless body. Max stooped down to feel Taryn's pulse, probably just as a formality. After all, you could see Taryn's blood vessels popping out like a bad 3-D effect. Will was still in his wheelchair. You would think he was still asleep, except the blood from his chest wound had pooled underneath the chair. As Kincaid sat up in a daze, he could hear an overhead page to go to Joey's room. In the midst of the confusion and scattered corpses, Kincaid was wondering: _Did we win? _

They deemed it a suicide cult. _Must be a crazy-ass White thing_, thought Kincaid, as he couldn't understand how people accepted that as a logical explanation. If they were all so intent on killing themselves, where were the knives? Where was Taryn's heroin? Nothing was there. It didn't help that Dr. Gordon sided with Dr. Simms. _The dickhead was present at Nancy's funeral, and then the next day signed a statement supporting the suicide lie_. Gordon even claimed that Donald Thompson forced him to do some strange rituals that very same night. It blew Kincaid's mind that people believed the part about Donald Thompson impaling himself on a Cadillac. Kincaid was glad when Dr. Gordon resigned and moved out of Springwood. _Good riddance, you lying motherfucker. I can't believe they allowed you to keep your medical license. _

For political reasons, Kincaid, Kristen and Joey were released immediately. After all, it was Westin Hills that allowed Nancy Thompson to treat the teenagers. She was painted as a psycho. It was written that Nancy wanted to control the teenagers so much that she carved words on Joey's chest—"Come and get him, bitch." She made all the teenagers believe that a bogeyman was after them. So releasing the suicide cult survivors would eliminate any possible lawsuits. Joey, Kristen, and Kincaid only had to sign a paper confirming the events, and waiving their right to sue. Joey and Kristen signed their paperwork, and left first. Kincaid refused. His uncle eventually signed the papers, and Kincaid was the final Elm Street kid to leave Westin Hills. With the scandal gone, the hospital had its reputation intact, and the staff members could maintain their credibility. It was short-lived, though. Westin Hills closed down a few months afterwards because of funding. _I guess payback is a bitch. _

They didn't speak for a few weeks. And then Kristen called, and wanted the three of them to hang out. They met at a pizza hotspot. At first, there was the awkward silence until Joey spilled a Coke on his pants. Kristen and Kincaid laughed as Joey tried to use the tablecloth to dry himself. And then, everything seemed normal again. They started talking about their classes at Springwood High School, and what kind of electives they were going to take. No topic was off limits except for what happened at Westin Hills. It was understood that they wouldn't mention Nancy or Dr. Gordon. When they hung out once, Kincaid and Joey did talk about how Taryn used to bust their chops. It turned out that Joey had a major crush on her. _Sorry, Phillip_, thought Kincaid, _Joey didn't play for the backdoor posse._

But despite his friendship with Kristen and Joey, Kincaid felt like the biggest backstabber alive. He tried to stand by the truth of what happened. But nobody wanted to hear the truth, and a good person got screwed over for it. Yet, Kincaid had a secret that he never shared with anyone. That same evening that Nancy described her ordeals with Krueger, Kincaid and the others embarked in the dream world. But before he met Kristen and Nancy in the basement, Kincaid had his own experience. He was amongst the Springwood parents, as they marched through the power plant halls. Krueger was there to reclaim some evidence that he hid in the pipes, and was ambushed by the mob. As they lit Krueger on fire, Kincaid turned his back to Krueger's howling screams. He floated through the crowd until he saw a familiar face. His father, Ross Kincaid, in civilian clothes. Even though Kincaid never met the man, he knew it was him instinctively. Ross stood at the back of the crowd, shaking his head at the spectacle. Kincaid couldn't see the orange glow on his father's face anymore.

Kincaid turned around to see a new setting behind him. It was a bar that was closed down a decade ago, situated in the Steels.

He could see two men in their police uniforms, sitting in a corner booth away from everybody else. There was the racket of pool playing and a jukebox amid the sound of voices. Kincaid felt himself floating to the table.

"He's going to rat on us, Donald...I just know it," said a male voice.

"You don't know that, Tim," said Donald Thompson, chugging on his mug of beer. "Ross is a good man. He knows we didn't have any choice about Krueger."

"Look, Ross is trouble okay," said Tim Blocker, "He said he's going to talk if we don't confess."

"What?" asked Donald, infuriated.

"Yeah, it didn't matter that Krueger terrorized my wife and kids. Ross thinks we went outside of the law. He's going to sell us out."

Donald took another chug of his beer, almost slamming his mug on the table. He stared off into the distance.

"Unless...we take care of it ourselves," said Tim.

"What are you saying?" asked Donald, directing his eyes on Tim.

"You and me...get rid of Ross," said Tim.

Donald stayed silent. Kincaid looked at him from the side. He couldn't believe that these two men were talking about killing his father. _Is this what...?_

"Fine...we'll do it," said Donald. "Tell him you want to talk to him about confessing...Tell him to meet you over at the outskirts."

"And then what?" asked Tim.

"I'll take care of the rest," said Donald.

The bar shifted like an earthquake. The customers were shaking like leaves, and were being sucked into a light. And then the light became a single corpse spread across a grassy field.

Kincaid ran towards the body, and saw his father's lifeless eyes pointed directly at him. His father had a massive head wound. Kincaid looked up and saw the police baton on the grass. He could see Donald walking up to a distraught Tim.

"He...he was begging you...for his wife and kid..." said Tim, choking between tears.

Donald leaned on his haunches. The blood was all over his flannel shirt. "Listen to me, Tim...you said it yourself...Ross was going to rat us out. All that we worked hard for...for our families...Ross was going to destroy all of that. Did you want to go to jail?"

Tim stayed silent.

"Goddamn it, Tim. This was your idea. You weren't man enough to do it yourself, so I took care of it," yelled Donald.

Tim shivered with sobbing. Donald went into a rage, and grabbed Tim and knocked him in the face a few times. "You listen to me. This was your fucking idea. So, you're going to help me dispose the body. We're going to act like nothing ever happened. Do you hear me?" Donald yelled at his final question. Tim nodded.

"Now...you take the legs. I'll take the upper half," said Donald.

Tears were pouring down Kincaid's eyes. _So that was why he left mom and me,_ thought Kincaid, _those fuckers killed him. _

"Do you still trust that bitch?"

Kincaid turned around to see Krueger, in his burned form, pointing at him with a finger knife. Kincaid stayed silent.

"Your father would still be alive if Nancy's daddy didn't kill him."

"And your point?" asked Kincaid. His response was fueled by anger. He had never uttered a word to Krueger before. Krueger was so mad that he didn't care.

"Help me...and I will make sure that Nancy and her father pays for their crimes," said Krueger.

"She didn't do anything," muttered Kincaid.

"Her father murdered an innocent man," retorted Krueger "Admit it...you want that man dead." He pointed his finger at Donald and Tim. Kincaid could see his father being stuffed into a trunk.

"Sure, I would want _him_ dead...but not her," said Kincaid.

"Give me her and I will give you your revenge," said Krueger. The shadows covered his face, except for his grisly smile.

"Maybe you didn't hear me...I said that I don't want Nancy dead," said Kincaid, as he knocked Freddy across the field. "Besides, why should I believe you? I don't know if what you showed me was real."

Freddy got up and laughed again. "I see...the little boy in denial. So, you won't be on my side. Let's see if Taryn will."

"You better leave Taryn alone, you motherfucker!"

Kincaid walked toward Krueger, but then suddenly a wall came before him. He began pounding on the wall, the wood splintering by his force. Once Kincaid tore down that wall, another one came before him. As he struck one wall after another, Kincaid wondered if what Krueger showed him was real. _I can't...think about that_, thought Kincaid, _Taryn __and the others need me. _

That very same night, Nancy was killed when Freddy appeared as her father. _I should have known that he was tricking you. But..was a part of me hoping that you would be killed? Maybe I did want revenge, and your blood would satisfy it. _Kincaid would never know the truth about his father. But his encounter with Freddy Krueger haunted him. Despite his closeness with Kristen and Joey, Kincaid couldn't bring himself to share his secret.

Kincaid leaned over to place the roses on Nancy's tombstone.

"I know I shouldn't be here, Nancy. But I have to tell somebody, and you're the only one I can trust," said Kincaid.

As he kneeled down to describe his dream, the eventide lumbered on the horizon.


End file.
